


When the Monsters Come Out to Play

by Elfin_Queen



Category: Vampire Knight (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Biting, Blood Drinking, Bondage, Incest, Multi, Possessive Behavior, Vampire Sex, dub-con
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 04:10:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11936031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfin_Queen/pseuds/Elfin_Queen
Summary: Ichiru makes a different request when he meets Shizuka beneath the cherry tree and everything changes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My brain asked the question "What if Shizuka took Zero along with Ichiru, and raised them to be her sexy, incestuous vampire children?" so this is my answer XD  
> Characters will be very ooc! (both because their circumstances are different and because I don't have experience writing them)  
> I don't have a beta, so there will be mistakes. Feel free to point them out, but it'd help if you were specific  
> This is pure self indulgence, so there may be shark-jumping in the future!  
> I hope you enjoy it :)

Zero has grown used to waking to darkness.

His eyes are better for the dark than they were before _that woman_ changed him, but there's almost no light at all in the cellar he's been locked in for the past several weeks. At least, he thinks it's been weeks. He hasn't been able to measure time properly since...

Zero shakes his head, rattling the chains that lock his wrists to the wall above his head. He doesn't want to think about it. Not again. He's relived it too many times since he first woke in this cellar. The darkness and lonelieness lend themselves to reflection far too easily. Reflection on what he was going to become-

The hunger makes it hard to stop his thoughts from wandering to the dark places he doesn't want to look at again, but the only kind of food he's offered is something he doesn't want, will never want. He'll never be a monster like...like...

_His parents thrown aside like nothing, like toys, and silvery hair almost the same shade as his own falling past his face as pain explodes through his neck and he screams..._

Zero shakes his head, closing his eyes and trying to calm his breathing. The bite was already gone, already healed, without leaving so much as a scar. He wishes it was still there, on his neck, because the pain of it would be better than what it's abscence means. Better than becoming like _them_.

Once he's calmed a bit, he opens his eyes. It barely makes a difference to how much he can see, there's still only the dim glow from beneath the door he couldn't reach. He'd tried, of course, tried and tried and tried, but all he managed to accomplish was scrapping his wrists raw against the manacles. He shouldn't have been surprised. That woman was ancient and powerful, and Ichiru...

Zero shakes his head, refusing to think of his twin. There weren't a lot of things he wanted to think about. Even the escape he was detirmined to make would mean leaving the last of his family behind...

_"They're dead." The woman had practically crooned the words against his neck. It had shocked him into stillness, his flailing limbs going ridgid as his mind blanked because they couldn't be, not his parents, not-_

_Fangs had sunk into his neck, and then there had been nothing but burning..._

Too many flashbacks. Too many memories. Nothing to chase them away in the darkness.

He'd tried screaming at first. To make someone hear, to make them let him go, just so he wouldn't break in the oppressive stillness of the room...It had dried his throat until he choked on air and could barely croak out the simplest of words.

The drink he'd been given to soothe his pain made him sick. The thick, red fluid had smelled so deliciously sweet...But he'd forced himself to turn away, even as his throat throbbed. He didn't know where they had gotten it, and he didn't want to, but he wasn't going to drink blood like a monster.

Like _her_.

He remembered the first time he'd seen her, standing like an otherworldy creature beneath a cherry tree bursting with pink buds despite the cold.

He remembered the second time, staring up at her from the ground as darkness clouded his vision and blood gushed from his neck and his parents screamed.

He remembered the last time, her powerful voice whispering words of comfort against his skin, his own body too weak with hunger and bloodloss to retaliate.

Her visits were always full of pain and false kindness. But they were still better than Ichiru's.

_Staring up at his younger brother, silently telling him to run, to flee this monster that had invaded their home. Ichiru's eyes softening as he smiles and kneels in front of Zero, brushing hair from his face and murmuring that it would all be alright even as he was begged to leave them and just go._

Zero rattles his chains, the noise of clanking metal freeing him from the memory. He hadn't understood then. Hadn't realized what Ichiru had done. Had thought his younger brother in shock, vulnerable, in neeed of protection...

How very wrong he'd been.

_His mother's scream, high and shrill, and the crash of something breaking. He couldn't be sure what. He could barely see Ichiru anymore, but his brother's hand still stroked his face, and Zero thought that a faint smile played on the youngest Kiryu's lips_

A loose board in the hallway creaks and Zero's head snaps up, watching the door. He's pretty sure they hit that board on purpose, so he'll know they're coming, although why they bother giving him that much warning he isn't sure. He prays that it will be Shizuka. Prays she's come to take his blood and offer hers. To throw another bleeding human at his feet. To offer another sip from a suspiciously opaque container. Or, even better, that it's a hunter come to save him from the darkness and pain. To put him down like the monster he knows he'll become. _Anything._

He knows, of course, even before the creaking door swings open that it is none of those things. He knows Ichiru's scent too well to mistake it for another person's. Knows the lightness of his step and the feeling of his prescence.

His younger brother smiles at him, innocent and sweet, crossing to where he's chained to the floor and straddling his legs. Zero doesn't move. Shizuka he fights with all his might, but he won't hurt Ichiru, _can't_ hurt Ichiru who's so vulnerable and prescious and dear to him.

Ichiru presses a chaste kiss to Zero's forehead. "How have you been, big brother?" Zero doesn't meet his eyes, doesn't respond at all, so Ichiru moves lower, kissing his nose. "Are you hungry?" Zero keeps his eyes averted, even though his stomach practically growls at him. Ichiru seems unperturbed, which is to be expected. They've done this many times now, and Zero doesn't flinch away like he used to when Ichiru presses their lips together.

He has no right to deny Ichiru anything. Not after failing him so badly.

Ichiru hums softly and gently runs a hand over Zero's bare chest _"Your shirt just gets in the way, Zero."_ and breaks the kiss, moving instead to lick Zero's neck. "May I?"

Zero just nods, not trusting himself to speak. He feels the lightest prick of pain and then hears the strange sucking noise that goes along with drinking blood. His own fangs elongate at the scent of his own blood and he shudders. He does not want to be this creature, this monster, but he can't go back to what he was. Shizuka killed him as surely as his parents.

Ichiru finishes quickly. He never takes much, just enough to sate himself. Zero wishes he would take more, punish his older brother for failing, delay the next part that they both know will come...

The white shirt Ichiru had been wearing flutters to the ground as he tosses it aside, bearing his neck to Zero. He doesn't wait to see if Zero will break his skin first, instead digging a nail in until blood begins to flow.

Zero's tongue laps at the spilling blood and some part of him savors the flavor of his twin, his other half, his everything. Most of him is horrified, but the deeply buried vampiric instincts awaken and he jerks forwards, sinking his fangs into Ichiru's neck. His brother lets out a soft sigh, nearly collapsing against him as he begins to drain the blood that sustains him.

It is an eternity before Zero can bring himself to tear away, but at the same time it seems to pass in only an instant. Ichiru stands on unsteady legs, picking up his shirt before turning to leave.

"I'm sorry." Zero murmurs, his brother's blood still trickling down his chin.

"I know." 

Ichiru leaves and Zero is once again left in darkness. For now, at least.

Zero always hopes for Shizuka. With Shizuka he can scream and cry and curse her name, do his best to kick and hit and knock her off of him. He can be angry at Shizuka.

He cannot be angry at Ichiru, at the younger brother he failed to save. He cannot harm the frail boy he's spent so many years watching over, protecting, loving.

Shizuka is easy. She forces him and he fights her every inch of the way.

But he has never been able to deny Ichiru anything.


	2. Chapter 2

Zero refuses to drink human blood.

No matter what they do to him, no matter how much Ichiru pleads and Shizuka tries to compel him, he refuses.

It is the hill he is willing to die on, the one thing that keeps him from truly being a monster like them. It's the only thing that's helped him stay sane in the dark.

_He isn't sane, not really, but if he repeats it to himself enough he can almost pretend it's true._

He knows that if he gives in it will make him the thing he hates most, make him a monster and a parasite, make him _evil_.

Drinking from a human would break something inside him. Killing one would shatter him.

Shizuka is all too aware of this and spends most of her visits trying different ways to force him into it. Starving him, beating him, ripping their throats open so the hot blod splashes on his face and he has to bite his tongue hard enough that it bleeds to keep from taasting the salty liquid.

Drinking from Shizuka is safe, for all he loathes it, because she is a monster.

Drinking from Ichiru is also safe, for all that Zero wishes it wasn't, for all that he hates everything they've become.

Humans are not safe. Humans are not _prey_. Humans are innocent of vampires, untouched by the corruption that pulses in his veins, and should be protected.

It's a perversion of the Hunters' main mandate- Destroy Evil, Protect the Innocent differs wildly from 'drink from vampires'- but Zero is not really a hunter. He didn't really have the chance to become one before, and now... 

Any hunter would stake him on sight. They would be _right_ to.

Shizuka clicks her tongue impatiently at Zero and he blinks up at her, emerging from the strange warren his mind has become with no food and too much time to ponder. She stands just outside the reach of his chains, her arm wrapped around a young girl's chest. The girl can't be more than nine, a mousey little thing with unremarkable hair and eyes. Zero knows why she's here- another offer of blood after what feels like weeks of starvation- but if Shizuka thinks he'd _ever_ harm a child she's-

"If you don't bite her, I will." The woman smiles as he gapes at her, because that is not something he's prepared to deal with. "Oh, don't worry child. I won't kill her."

Zero snarls at the word 'child,' more a habit than anything else at this point. His mind whirls as he thinks through what the woman means. It would be cruel to subject someone else to this change, to make them monsterous, but he _can't_ hurt a child. And maybe it's selfish of him, but he won't cow to the woman's games when she's probably planning on turning the girl anyway so she has another minion...

Shizuka smiles at the conflict playing out over his face. "Oh, don't worry. She won't wind up down here with you."

That's probably the best case scenario for Zero, and even if it's selfish, sacrificing the girl's humanity for his own, he just _can't_ -

"No, I think I'll dump her in a nearby city." She strokes the girl's face. Zero feels his entire body go ridgid because as much as he hates it he knows what Shizuka's blood has done for him. Not having it would mean...

"Decide quickly, child. I am not a patient woman." Her gentle smile makes rage boil in his gut, but he forces it away. He can't give in. He must stay strong. He won't-

Shizuka tips the girl's head to the side, her fangs protruding from her gums, and Zero speaks without realizing, practically screaming through his raw throat. " _Don't!_ "

He's afraid that he's too late, that the woman will spill the girl's blood all over the floor and make him watch as the life drains from her, that this child is going to sink into the deepest deapths of insanity because of _him_...

But Shizuka stops and looks at him, quirking an eyebrow.

"I...I'll do it." His voice sounds hoarse and strange, even to him, but from how the woman's smile stretches it could be a choir of angels.

"Very good, child." She pushes the girl towards him.

Zero closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm the hunger inside him. He just needs to drink some of her blood, and then Shizuka will let her go. He...he can do that. It won't even be hard.

The girl drops to her knees in front of him, tipping her head to the side, and he leans forward. He can hear the pulse thrumming in her neck, smell the sweat on her skin, practically _taste_ the delicious red blood pumping through her veins-

He shakes his head to clear it and calm himself, then gently pricks her with his fangs.

The girl shudders slightly as he drinks from her. He's careful to take only a few mouthfuls, even though the beast inside of him is starving, screaming to rip her open and drain her dry. It gets harder to resist, the more he drinks, the voice getting louder and louder until it drowns out everything else, erasing all he's ever been taught-

Zero jerks back, his shoulders slamming into the wall as he tries to get as far from the girl and her blood as possible. He pants, squeezing his eyes shut and desperately trying not to lunge towards the sweet smell.

Shizuka chuckles, high and light and beautiful, and touches a hand to his head.

"You did well."

Zero doesn't respond, doesn't look at her, just focuses on shoving the monsterous instincts away. Shizuka doesn't seem to mind, scooping up the girl and leaving him to the darkness that has become his entire world.

The next time Zero is brought a living thing to feed on, it's a vampire. He is so unspeakably greatful, so ready to destroy an evil creature, so _hungry_ from starvation and his personal restraint, that he drains them dry and watches them turn to dust. And that is...good, in a way.

He may never be a Hunter, but at least he won't need to make himself more of a monster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...there goes Zero's resolve XD
> 
> The next couple chapters may be disjointed and unstuck in time. Zero's going to be molded into what Shizuka and Ichiru want (mostly) so there will be quite a lot of important moments where he's changing, spread out over the next few years of his life  
> It won't always be that way (I have a plot, I swear!) but I think having things a bit vague and disjointed helps convey how very lost and alone Zero is. It'll get better as the story goes on, though :)


	3. Chapter 3

Zero's life is many things, but most of all it's...easy.

Easy to fall into patterns when you have no other choice. Easy to become complacent when there's nothing to do. Easy to grow weak when there's no reason to stay strong.

Shizuka and Ichiru are both capricious in different ways, but they're also predictable, so Zero's life falls into a rhythm of sorts, his long periods of solitude broken by short visits. He eats what he's given, usually his brother's blood or that of some nameless vampire that quickly falls to dust. He doesn't question who the vampires were before they became his prey, and he doesn't ask how Ichiru looks so full of vitality, how he has so much blood to give.

He doesn't want to know the answers.

Shizuka dissapears sometimes. Zero isn't sure how often or for how long, but sometimes there are breaks in the routine of his life. Visits missed, Ichiru on edge, the scent of her fading from the air.

It's another thing Zero doesn't question, less because he's worried about the answer and more because he knows he won't get one and doesn't want to waste his breath. But he notes them when they happen.

Tonight Ichiru is on edge more than Zero's ever seen his brother, twitchy and anxious, and Shizuka's scent is at least a few days old, so it's no surprise that when the perimiter alarms sound his younger brother yanks fangs from his neck and hurries off. They're vulnerable alone, still new as vampires go, and Zero would be a severe liability. The fact that every other time the alarms have sounded it's been a deer or other animal doesn't matter.

What _is_ surprising is that Ichiru leaves his shirt and jacket behind. That has never happened before and Zero stares at the pile of clothes for a stunned moment before pulling them closer with his feet.

Manuvering the small knife from a hidden interior pocket of the jacket to his hand takes considerable effort, and unlocking the chains with it moreso, but when he finally walks out the door of the room that's been his cell for god only knows how long, he feels a grim satisfaction. 

He hurries through the house, weak and atrophied fingeres clutching the knife, unsteady on his legs but unwilling to stop or even slow. He needs to get _out_ and he needs to get as far away as possible before Ichiru realizes he's gone and comes after him. He needs to-

Zero freezes as the clash of metal on metal reaches his ears, the sound of a fierce battle, and curses quietly to himself. He immediately turns in the direction of the noise and picks up the pace, because even if he was willing to abandon his brother to Shizuka's tender mercies- and something inside him rages at the very idea- he doesn't want Ichiru to _die_.

When he reaches the large reception room and sees his brother, surrounded by men brandishing weapons, bloodied katana raised to defend himself, Zero doesn't hesitate. He dives in with claws and fangs and knife. He's weak and slow compared to most vampires, but he has the element of surprise and a lifetime of combat training and he _will not fail Ichiru again._

He sends one man flying into a wall and rips the throat out of another, dousing himself in warm, rich blood. His vision goes red, bloodlust and rage overwhelming him completely a he hacks and slashes and bites, barely even noticing the few strikes that manage to land on him.

  
  


Ichiru finds Zero just where he left him, kneeling in the reception room surrounded by bloody bodies that have been ripped almost limb from limb. But his brother isn't looking at the mangled corpses. He's staring at the pack one of the men had been carrying. A stupid thing to bring, as any extra storage capacity would be more than offset by the encumberance in battle. Perhaps the man had viewed it differently, but since his head is now firmly seperated from his shoulders, Ichiru feels justified in his assessment.

But it's not the pack itself holding Zero's gaze, nor is it the headless man that bore it. It's the crest decorating the bag. To most people, it would simply be a design, but they both knew what it meant.

"What have I done?" Zero's voice was quiet and small, almost as if speaking to himself. "How could I have...They're _Hunters_."

"You did it to protect me." Ichiru shifts the small bag over his shoulder and moves to kneel beside Zero. "To protect us. They wanted to kill us, big brother."

Zero looks at him, eyes blown wide with a mix of terror and bewilderment. He looks so sweet, so vulnerable, so _innocent_ that it takes considerable willpower for Ichiru not to just pin him down and bite him. 

Instead he smiles and reaches out to cup Zero's face before pulling him to his feet. "Come on."

"B-but-"

"We need to go, Zero." Ichiru takes his brother's hand and pulls him out of the house, despite the elder twin's feeble protests, and fights the smirk that threatens to cross his face.

Zero had killed hunters for him. _For him._

Ichiru presses the heavily bandaged wound on his side, courtesy of the Hunters, and lets himself smile.

That made everything else worthwhile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ichiru is a possessive bastard and poor Zero just can't cope


	4. Chapter 4

Zero tells himself that he was still in shock.

That's why he didn't notice Ichiru's injury while they ran, why he didn't spot the Hunter ambush, why he let his brother get hurt _again_.

Why he reacted to the attack with lethal force, ripping the men apart.

But that doesn't change the fact that Ichiru got hurt- _again, and how could he not have noticed it before?!_ \- injured by a Hunter's weapon. And he wasn't healing.

They'd made it to the nearby safe house, more a shack than a house with only two rooms and one bed, but hopefully well hidden enough that the Association wouldn't track them down immediately. Ichiru had practically collapsed. Zero had tried giving his own blood to his twin. It had kept him from oughtright dying, but the amount he'd need to recover from a wound from an anti-vampire weapon would drain Zero nearly dry and leave him recovering for days.

They didn't have days. Zero may not have made full Hunter, but even he knew that for a large, important operation if there was no contact from the team for more than two days, the Association would send out scouts at the very least.

Given the number of Hunters and the fact that they were probably after Shizuka...they would be lucky if fifty Hunters weren't breaking down their door tomorrow.

It was the first time Zero had ever _wanted_ Shizuka. She wouldn't have hesitated in doing whatever was necessary to save them, he knew. Much as he hated her, she seemed to genuinely care for his brother...

But she wasn't there. And he had to make a choice.

  
  


Hunting humans was both easier and harder than he'd expected. On the one hand, they were _everywhere_ in the nearby town. On the other...they tended to move in packs or groups. And transporting one back to the safehouse alive would be difficult.

Zero wound up settling for some thugs- he wasn't going to hurt anyone innocent if it could be helped- and luring them into the forest using himself and a fat purse as bait. It was similar to a tactic Yagari had let him attempt while he was training.

Luring the two men deep into the forest before knocking them unconcious was easy enough. Carrying them back to the safehouse without leaving a trail proved slightly more challenging, but Zero made sure to cover his tracks and conceal his sceent. He dropped them in the front room of the small shack and went to check on his brother.

He finds Ichiru sitting up in bed with his katana grasped tightly in one hand, clearly ready to leap at the intruder if they proved to be an enemy. Zero winces. He had hoped that Ichiru would stay unconcious until he returned.

"Zero...?" Ichiru relaxes marginally, but doesn't set down his weapon. "You...came back." The small smile on Ichiru's lips is so reminicent of their younger days, of Ichiru sick in bed, feverish, begging Zero not to leave him, that Zero smiles back and responds gently.

"Sorry to worry you, Ichiru."

"Where...where did you go?"

The simple question reminds Zero what he did and why, and he feels the smile drop off his face. "You need to eat."

Ichiru blinks at him, curious and questioning, the katana slipping from weak hands to fall on the floor. His skin is almost the same shade as the bandages that wrap his body, although they're stained slightly red from where he's reopened his wounds again.

Zero focuses on his brother's injuries, his pain, rather than the words when he speaks. "There are two men in the other room for you. Humans. You need to eat." His voice sounds far away to his own ears, cold and hard and dispassionate, but Ichiru still smiles and reaches for him.

"Help me up?"

  
  


They fled that evening as the sun dipped below the horizon, leaving behind the corpses of the two men. Zero told himself that no one would miss them. He knew he was lying.

Ichiru had debated hiding the bodies for a short while before deciding it was better to put as much distance between themselves and the area as possible before more Hunters were on their trail. 

Zero didn't ask where they were going or how Ichiru knew how to find their maker. He didn't even argue that they should try to make it on their own. If the Association was after them- and it would be, after the bloodshed they'd caused- the safest place for Ichiru was by her side. 

Much as he might hate her, Zero loved his brother more.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to get this chapter written!
> 
> I know this one is pretty short, but there'll be another in the next few days
> 
> (and sorry I haven't been replying to comments. I do read them all and they make me very happy, I'm just never sure what to say back...)

Ichiru was rather surprised by Zero's...compliance.

_If he'd known getting stabbed was all it'd take to make Zero accept his fate, he would've done it long ago_

His elder brother had been caring and supportive and sweet in a way that Ichiru was surprised to realize he'd missed. So long keeping a prisoner captive had made him forget what it was to have a brother.

Even now, sitting in a plush, if dusty, sitting room in one of Shizuka's numerous estates, Zero was almost docile. He'd accepted Shizuka's offered blood with barely a grumble. He didn't seem happy exactly...but it still gave Ichiru hope.

"Child," Shizuka's fingers muse Ichiru's hair as she speaks to him, "You should sleep. You are still weak, and you will require your strength tomorrow."

Ichiru looks up at Shizuka. "Are we leaving?" 

She chuckles and shakes her head, long white hair swaying almost hypnotically. "No, child."

Zero stiffens slightly where he's seated across the room, but Ichiru ignores him. "Hunting?"

"Of a sort." The ancient vampire sighs. "I have a responsibility, as vampiric aristocracy, to help...control the Level Es. You will assist me with that tomorrow."

Ichiru nods and rises. "As you wish." He looks at Zero. "Tuck me in?" It's foolish and childish and he should've left such things behind the day he asked Shizuka to remove his parents from their lives, but the past few days had given him a taste of the old Zero, the _real_ Zero, the wonderful twin he's always wanted all to himself.

Shizuka chuckles quietly, but the sound is happy rather than mocking. Zero simply nods and stands to walk Ichiru to his room.

Fourteen is too old to still want to be tucked in, but the younger Kiryu- no, not Kiryu, he relinquished that name when he asked to be turned- the youngest _Hio_ thought he might be allowed some foolish, childish things.

Zero kisses him goodnight. It's just a brief peck on the lips, but it's still a kiss, and Zero still instigated it. That's progress.

Ichiru falls asleep smiling.

  
  


Destroying Level Es is easy enough for Ichiru- flush with blood and practically buzzing with power it would be hard to lose- and surprisingly cathartic. He finds the crunch of bones and the agonized screams as his katana rips them apart incredibly satisfying. He knows he probably looks a mess, practically coated in blood and dust, but he feels _alive_.

He wishes Zero would join them in the fray, rather than watching quietly from an overlook, sitting stock still and quiet as death. Something like shame worms its way into Ichiru's chest, as his brother watches him brutally hack vampires into pieces- especially ones that used to be like them- but he shoves that aside.

He has a job to do and his brother's dissappointment won't stop him.

Besides, he's fighting alongside Shizuka, who means more to him than he can say. She wades through the throng of vampires, not bothering to use her powers, ripping them apart with her bare hands instead. She smiles at him with bloody fangs and he cannot help but grin back, blood singing beneath his skin as he throws himself headlong into the fray.


	6. Chapter 6

Zero disgusts himself.

It's almost surprising to realize. He's long been disgusted by his body, this body that craves blood and violence and... _reacts_ to Ichiru's touch, but he kept those things very separate from what he actually considered _him_.

But he can't deny, standing in front of Shizuka's door, that this is his choice.

Maybe she intended this outcome. Maybe he's playing right into her hands. But the choice is still his.

Zero growls softly to himself. She must know he's out in the hall, but she's clearly waiting for him to make up his mind. It may seem like courtesy, but he knows her too well for that. This is just another mind game.

But it's a game he knows he won't win, can't win, so he knocks on the door and quietly hates himself as she opens it.

"Zero." Her voice is quiet and melodious and her pink eyes bore into his soul for an instant before he drops his own respectfully to the floor. "What is it?"

"Can I..." Zero takes a breath and steels himself. "Can I talk to you?"

Shizuka nods and stands aside, allowing him into her bedroom.

Zero walks in and stands stock still, staring at the ground. He doesn't want to do this, doesn't want to ask this woman for anything, but...

"What is it, child?"

Zero fights a flinch at the pet name and clears his throat. "Ichiru and I...if we didn't have your blood, we'd fall to level E."

"Indeed."

"I...saw them today." He looks up at her, meeting her pink eyes with his own and forcing himself not to look away. "I don't want that for Ichiru."

"Nor do I. It is why I have given you both my blood."

"But that won't last forever."

Shizuka nods. "Yes. If you went long enough without it, you would fall."

"Is there...is there a way to make sure that never happens?"

"It would require you to rise above your current level."

Zero blinks at her. "That isn't possible."

"It is, simply unlikely. And very illegal."

"How is it done?"

The smirk that lifts Shizuka's lips sends shivers down his spine. "Draining the lifeblood of a Pure Blood."

Zero stares at her, dumbstruck.

"It could be arranged," Shizuka continues, "I have no desire to see Ichiru fall, and it would be interesting to see what effect it would have on him."

"Then...you'll help him do it?"

"Yes. On two conditions."

Zero stiffens but nods. He knew this was coming and made his peace with doing whatever she required of him.

"First, you will do the same."

"Wha- No! I don't want to-"

"Quiet. We both know he would not do it if you refused."

Zero bites his lip and looks down, hating that she's right and hating the idea of existing as he is as long as even a level C vampire would, but...it's for Ichiru, and it's not as if he holds any love for Pure Bloods. "Alright. And the second condition?"

Shizuka's hand grips his chin, forcing him to look at her. "I want you to call me Mother."

Zero stiffens, staring at her. "No."

"That is my condition, Zero."

Staring at the woman who murdered his parents, the very idea of calling her his mother is abhorrent, vile, _unthinkable_. It would be for Ichiru, but... "I _can't_."

"No?" She releases him and he takes several steps back. "Then I suppose your brother will be left to fall should something happen to me."

Zero grits his teeth and looks down. "You are not my mother."

"I made you what you are. Made you something akin to myself. Even more so if you accept. I have shaped you as much as the human that bore you."

Zero shakes his head, blocking out her words, willing them to be false.

Shizuka's voice gentles. "Ichiru is like a son to me. I do not wish to see him harmed because you refuse to be one."

Zero winces. He doesn't want Ichiru hurt. All he wants is to protect his little brother the way he couldn't protect his parents, to shelter him from the cruel world they live in. He promised himself that he would always watch over Ichiru, however he could. Protect him no matter the cost. If this would do that...

Shizuka turns as if to leave. "Very well then-"

"Wait!" He grits his teeth and tries not to choke on his next words. "Please...please Mother."

Shizuka turns to face him, a smile on her lips. "Very good, Zero." She pats his head. "Go to bed. You will need to be rested for our travels."

"T-travels?"

"Indeed. I keep my promises, after all. We will leave tomorrow."

Zero nods his thanks, unable to coax words from his dry throat, and hurries out. He isn't sure if it's merely his imagination, but he thinks he hears her laughing behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, rl has been a little crazy


	7. Chapter 7

There is something familiar about going on a stake out. Zero finds it almost comforting. Hiding and watching and stalking are familiar, the proper forms for them drilled into his head for hours by Yagari- back when the man was his teacher and wouldn't have killed him on sight- so he could hunt for the Association.

Zero isn't sure if it's ironic that he's using them for a Pure Blood that seems to stand against everything he once believed in, or if it's just sad.

"You think too much," comes Ichiru's quiet voice from beside him. "We have a job to do, Zero. I need you focused."

Zero sighs and nods, looking back at the impossing manor that houses their quarry and tries not to yawn. He has always had trouble sleeping while he's hunting, and given how far they've come to find this supposedly perfect Pure Blood pair, it's only natural the deprivation would catch up to him. 

Even so, he carefully notes the vampires he can see and smell- surprisingly few for a home of that size, with only a few minor vampires acting as servants or guards and the couple themselves.

They sneak away from their hidden reconaissance point and return to Shizuka, reporting what they know before settling in to await dusk.

  
  


The defense is pitiful, easily avoided or disposed of. Shizuka leads the way through the house, her kimono and hair catching a slight breeze that make them ripple. Ichiru follows at her right shoulder, while Zero trails behind them both, doing his best to kill as little as possible.

_They die anyway, the people, but it is not by his hand. Sick as it might be, that is a comfort to him. He is not that sort of monster._

_"Not yet,"a voice in his head that sounds like Shizuka whispers to him, even as he tries to shove it away._

Then they're at the cellar where the Pure Bloods are hiding and there is no more time for thoughts, only action. He throws himself into the fight as soon as the man launches himself at Shizuka and doesn't stop until the vampire lies unconcious on the floor.

The scene that greets his eyes when he finally does glance around is not what he expects. The woman crouches in the corner, weak and surrounded by the scent of her fear, clutching a bundle to her chest. 

Zero looks to his companions, only to find Ichiru with fangs sunk deep into the man's throat. The woman lets out a noise somewhere between a sob and a strangled scream as her mate crumbles to dust.

Shizuka strides towards the woman, wrenching the budle away from her- it is only when it starts to cry that Zero realizes it's a newborn baby- and kicking the other pure blood back when she tries to attack.

Shizuka smiles down at the infant in her arms, tongue flicking over the points of her fangs. "What a sweet child..."

"No...please...not my baby-" the woman is silenced by Shizuka's cold smile as she licks her lips and leans down over the crying infant, ready to bite and drain the small life away.

Zero know he shouldn't interfear, knows he shouldn't try to stop his master _\- mother-_ from taking what she wants, but he's moving before he can stop himself.

Shizuka's eyes are cold when she looks at him, and there's a warning in her voice. "Zero..."

Zero shakes his head, backing away and holding the baby to his chest. "We don't have to hurt her."

"It's hardly fair, Zero." Shizuka tsks, still keeping a wary eye on the Pure Blood woman. "Three of them for three of us."

"Take her, then."

Shizuka quirks a pale eyebrow. "Are you so attached to the child already?"

"I..." he shakes his head. "I won't let you hurt them. Please, mother." The title tastes like poison in his mouth, but letting her harm a child is unthinkable.

A surprised expression flits across Shizuka's face before she smiles slightly. "You would give up the power of her blood to help a _vampire_?"

"They're just a child."

Shizuka's gaze sweeps over him, apraising, then she nods. "Very well. You will drain the woman, but the child may live."

Zero nods, praying to gods he doesn't believe in that she'll honor what she says, and crosses to the Pure Blood woman. She's clearly weak from childbirth, but there's strength in her eyes when he meets them. "I'm sorry."

She glances to the bundle in his arms, then tips her head back. "If you having my blood will save my child, I gladly give it.

Zero stares at her, at this vampire so willing to die for her newborn, and feels doubt worm its way into his heart. Their kind are selfish and cruel, not protective and never selfless. The sacrifice seems almost...human.

"Zero." Ichiru's voice is commanding from where he stands by Shizuka's side, still dusted with the ashes of his victim. "We don't have all day."

Zero nods and leans forward to sink his teeth into the pale throat in front of him. True to her word, the woman doesn't try to fight. She crumbles to dust around him, her power rushing through his veins and making him feel strong and full of life, _immortal_ even-

The child in his arms begins to cry again, and it breaks through the haze of power pulsing through his blood. He soothes them as best he can, cleaning their face with his sleeve and murmuring calming words. He doesn't want to know what Shizuka will do if the child annoys her, doesn't want to push his luck any further than he already has.

A slim, cool hand comes to rest on his head. "Come, child. We should depart." She smiles when he looks up at her. "And I suppose your new sister may need some things."

Zero looks back at the girl in his arms. He wouldn't mind having a sister. Once it was unthinkable, Ichiru needed everything he had and he owed that to the younger brother he'd weakened in the womb, but now, with Ichiru so strong...

He rises and looks at Shizuka with a slight smile on his face. "What now, mother?"

She smiles back. "Now, we leave and find somewhere safe for you to grow into your new powers. Come along." She sweeps out of the room, Ichiru following behind. Zero smiles down at the baby girl in his arms and follows.

  
  


Ichiru slinks into the sitting room of their temporary abode, freshly liberated from a human couple, and waits for Shizuka to acknowledge him.

His entrance was completely silent, but he isn't surprised when she sets down her teacup- filled with blood made from those tablets that make his stomach roil- and turns to look at him. She always knows when he's nearby. It's somehow comforting.

"Do you require something, my son?"

There's something like pride in her voice when she calls him her son- so different from his _worthless, human_ mother's pity- and he can't help but smile slightly at her. "No my mother. It's just..."

She rises and glides towards him, stroking his cheek. "What ails you?"

"I just..." he sighs, "Why didn't you tell Zero that vampire children influence the thoughts of those around them?"

"Ah," She hums softly, "Are you worried about his attachement to the girl?"

"It just seems strange to allow her free reign with his emotions. He is rather...fragile."

A smile plays across Shizuka's lips and she runs her fingers through his hair. "Are you jealous?"

" _No!_ "

The smile widens. "She will bind him to us far more tightly, my child. But if your want him...simply take him."

Ichiru stares at her for a moment, then looks away. "I...I can't. It's wrong."

"For humans, perhaps. Not for us. He is yours. _Take him_."

Ichiru feels his breath catch, images of his brother's beautiful pale skin beneath his hands running wild through his head. He realized he's nodding only when she pats his hair.

"Good. I will keep an eye on the child. Enjoy your evening."

Ichiru nods again and turns away, striding off in search of his brother. Something inside him still screamed _wrong_ inside his head, but he pushed that thought away. Zero had always been his, was his, would soon be his in every way that mattered.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for non-con and incest (like you didn't know those were coming ;P)
> 
> This is just pure smut, and not that important, so there's no harm in skipping it if it isn't to your taste

Zero protests when Ichiru drags him from the room by his wrist, glancing back at the baby who's sleeping in her makeshift drawer crib, but he doesn't yank away and he stops when he realizes they're only going down the hall to another bedroom.

"Ichiru, what are you-"

He's pushed gently but firmly onto the bed and Ichiru straddles his hips, practically ripping Zero's shirt open so he can lick the pale neck beneath the high collar. Zero shudders, but bares his throat to the younger boy. There's the familiar prick of Ichiru's fangs, then his nerves seem to light on fire, a thousand times more sensitive than before. He lets a little sigh escape his lips, relaxing into the familiar sensation.

"You're hard." Ichiru's soft whisper sends a jolt through him and he tries to jerk away as he realizes he _is_ , how _wrong_ it is, but Ichiru hold him in place and claims his lips with a kiss.

It's chaste, a normal- almost comforting- part of their ritual , but there's nothing normal about his brother stroking him hard. Ichiru hums into the kiss, fumbling with Zero's fly one handed before finally managing to free him cock.

The cool air on his heated flesh makes Zero jerk back, scrambling away as best he can, a voice inside his head screaming _wrong, wrong, WRONG_ -

And then Ichiru's hand grasps his cock and strokes. "I just want to make you feel good, big brother." Ichiru looks up at him, and even though his eyes seem alien, bright red and glowing, the smile is the innocent pleading one that Zero has known all his life. "Don't you want to make me feel good?"

"I-"

Ichiru doesn't wait for the answer, kicking off his own pants and shruging off his shirt as he moves to bite Zero again, leaving him too breathless to do anything but moan. 

When Ichiru finally comes up for air his voice is husky and his eyes are heavy with want. "I'm going to ride you."

Zero blinks up at him, but before he can speak he feels his cock slide into Ichiru's ass.

Something inside his brother rips and the scent of blood intensifies. Ichiru gasps and drops forward, his nails digging into Zero's shoulders as his body bucks up into the warm tightness.

Ichiru takes a breath, shifts, then starts to move his hips. Zero whines at the slow speed, hips bucking again and again. Then there are fangs in his neck and it's all he can do not to scream as a panting Ichiru slams down onto him.

Pleasure surges through both their bodies and they cum together, Ichiru on their stomachs, Zero deep in his brother's ass. Ichiru gasps as he's filled, then shakily pulls himself off Zero's cock and sits on the edge of the bed for a moment, panting.

What he's done hits Zero, and suddenly he can't breathe. He...fucked his younger brother. Maybe even injured him...

"Are you alright?" He struggles to sit up despite the aftershocks. "Did it...did I hurt you?"

"A little." Ichiru slips off the bed, a touch unsteady on his feet but still graceful, and pulls on his clothes. He smiles at his brother. "Don't worry, you'll do better next time."

"Of course!"

Ichiru's smile widens. "Get some rest." He's gone before Zero can respond, leaving the eldr twin to lie back on the bed until his blood stops pounding in his veins.

It isn't until he's calmed the frantic beating of his heart that he realizes he agreed to a next time.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm definitely going to keep working on this story, but I have no idea when I'll be updating it.  
> If you liked it, please leave a Kudos or a Comment! They're very motivating :)


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